The Pop-Culture E-Zine
We’ve featured the LEGO Ideas Futurama ship on here before, so of course we got excited when we saw the another LEGO Ideas based on Futurama!
This time though, we have the Futurama Headquarters, the crew and the Planet Express spaceship featured in one awesome LEGO Ideas playset!
You better hurry though, you have almost 2 years left to vote! 😉
source: LEGO Ideas
Have you ever dreamed of raiding a warehouse full of arcade machine we used to play back in the day?
Well, that dream is now a reality, thanks to Dubbo Arcade and Amusements! From looking at the photos on their Facebook page, we reckon they may have pretty much what most of us are after, either an old school arcade machine from the 80s or 90s, those hard to find arcade game boards, Hankin cocktail tables, or perhaps a jukebox or a pinball machine to tickle your nostalgic nerve.
Whatever you are after, we reckon a visit to Dubbo may be in order 😉
image source: Dubbo Arcade and Amusements via Facebook
Location pinball is experiencing a renaissance where the silverball game is popping up at more locations in and around one of the world’s most liveable city. If you want to get your pinball fix you may want to check out these establishments.
THE PINBALL PARLOUR (Located inside Man Cave Madness at 4/1813 Sydney Road, Campbellfield)
Melbourne’s newest and biggest pinball venue! Over 45 machines and growing. Classics from the 70s, 80s, 90s and latest and greatest pinball machines. Open every Saturday and Sunday with two, two hours sessions per day! Prices start at $30 for adults / $20 for kids.
BARTRONICA (335 Flinders Lane, Melbourne)
Right in the heart of the Central Business District (CBD) of Melbourne, Batronica is the place to be seen at. The renovated venue (titled: Batronica 2.0) has made playing pinball (and arcade) machines even easier while you enjoy a drink.
MOON DOG WORLD (32 Chifley Drive, Preston)
This brewery can accommodate 700 patrons spread across its massive floor space which sports an indoor lagoon, a bar equipped with 72 taps, a beer garden, a hidden tiki bar, a waterfall and best of all, pinball machines!
GENERAL PUBLIC (366 Boundary Rd, Dingley Village)
Home of the Bayside Pinball Club, this awesome venue has it all, from great food, lots of fun attractions, including bowling and of course beautifully maintained pinball machines for you to flip to your heart’s content. But wait, there is more – there is another General Public in Frankston with more pinball action (16-22 Playne St, Frankston).
B. LUCKY & SONS (Level 3/211 La Trobe St, Melbourne)
It may only have one pinball machine inside, but B. Lucky & Sons quirky arcade is so cool with other distractions, you won’t want to leave. Oh yeah, the big plus is that it is inside Melbourne Central located on the entertainment level, level 3!
FORTRESS MELBOURNE (enter via Shop 25, Lower Ground, Emporium Shopping Centre)
Open 7 days a week, Fortress Melbourne is Australia’s largest video games venue with a smattering of pinball machines in their Arcade Alley area. Entry is always free, so do yourself a favour, when in the CBD, hit up Fortress Melbourne, you may never leave!
MARVEL STADIUM (740 Bourke St, Docklands)
If you are heading out to the footy at Marvel Stadium, why not hit the pins there too. They currently have Deadpool, Spider-Man Vault Edition and Avengers: IQ!
TIMEZONE (various shopping centre locations: Highpoint, Knox, Forest Hill and Craigieburn)
That old staple is starting to add more and more pinball amongst their arcade and redemption machines – which is a good thing! Know and Forest Hill have a lineup of multiple newer Stern pinball machines, which we hope means other Timezones will follow suit.
BRAYBROOK HOTEL (353 Ballarat Rd, Braybrook)
In the heart of the west, you’ll find a Guardian Of The Galaxy (GOTG) pinball machine and some bronze statues of a couple of Footscray Football Club’s legendary players.
ARCADE GARAGE (518-530 High St, Northcote)
Arcade Garage Northcote is Melbourne’s largest retro arcade with more than 60 machines (including a handful of pinball machines) available to play spanning from the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s+.
HIGHPOINT HOTEL (Level 1 Tenancy 10, Highpoint Shopping Centre, Maribyrnong)
If Timezone Highpoint’s pinball machine doesn’t tickle your fancy, then walk around the corner to the Highpoint Hotel where you can play NBA Jam and some cool Stern pinball machines.
FUNDERDOME (inside Hoys Highpoint Shopping Centre, Maribyrnong)
Looks like Highpoint Shopping Centre is the place to be, with not one, but three venues sporting pinball machines (Highpoint Hotel, Timezone and Funderdome)! Funderdome has Stern favourites, Deadpool, The Munsters and Black Knight: Sword of Rage – all at $2.50 per game.
THE DONCASTER HOTEL (855 Doncaster Road, Doncaster)
According to our intel, Bob’s Diner at The Doncaster Hotel has two machines for your enjoyment!
RIDDELLS CREEK HOTEL (10-12 Hamilton St, Riddells Creek)
Heading out of Melbourne? Stop by this hotel to get some Grand Prix pinball action with your beer and burger!
KARTING MADNESS (Factory 9/841 Mountain Hwy, Bayswater)
Don’t let the name of this place fool you, Karting Madness also has a mad collection of pinball machines that will keep you occupied for quite a while.
PEACOCK INN HOTEL (210 High St, Northcote)
This sleek venue serves up a couple of pinball machines amongst their gastropub menu. Oh yeah, they also have a beer garden when you need to take a break from flipping.
THE HAWTHORN HOTEL (481 Burwood Rd, Hawthorn)
With its wood-paling bar, bistro food, trivia and karaoke, it’s amazing that this comfy pub could fit in any pinball – luckily, they do!
TOWER HOTEL (686 Burwood Rd, Hawthorn East)
With $7 schooners, Stern’s Mustang and Star Trek, you are all set for some cool pinball action.
THE OLYMPIC HOTEL (31 Albert St, Preston)
If you are heading out to Preston, then you can get some dinosaur pinnie action on Stern’s Jurassic Park!
TAYLORS LAKES HOTEL (7 Melton Hwy, Taylors Lakes)
Hit the family hotel for some good food, good drinks and of course, pinball.
COMMERCIAL HOTEL (111 Walton Street, Werribee)
Situated 35km west of the city, the Commercial Hotel offers a couple of pinball machines to be enjoyed while watching live sports and having a tipple.
RETREAT HOTEL (280 Sydney Road, Brunswick)
Head toward the back of the Retreat for a special surprise – pinball. With live music , craft beer on tap and hearty pub grub, you can’t really go wrong.
GRANDVIEW HOTEL (429 Heidelberg Road, Fairfield)
This 130+ year old triple story grand Victorian hotel will keep your hands occupied, both with drinks and pinball.
THORNBURY EXPRESSO COFFEE BAR (792 High Street, Thornbury)
A café with pinball? Yep, enjoy a coffee and perhaps an ice-cream while also playing some pinball in this ultra casual and cool cafe.
THE SALOON BARCADE (273-274 Nepean Hwy, Edithvale)
With locally brewed craft beers, cocktails, wine, spirits, and of course, PINBALL (arcade and pool), The Saloon Barcade is the place to be if you are out Edithvale way! Oh yeah, for those with the munchies, there are the staples, pizza, burgers and pasta too.
Oh yeah, another pro-tip is to check out your local AMF Bowling Centre and the foyer of Hoyts or Village Cinemas, as they usually have at least one (or more) pinball machines!
This was never going to be an exhaustive list, but it should get you started playing pinball in and around Melbourne. Due to the nature of locations changing their lineup or removing machines, this ‘Where to play pinball’ list is correct as at the time of publishing. We’ll endeavour to update this post as new locations pop up (and remove the ones that no longer have pinball machines).
If you appreciate what we do, please feel free to show your appreciation via the ausretrogamer virtual tip jar 🙂
Let’s start by saying we don’t condone illegal graffiti. However, when graffiti is welcomed as street art and makes a societal impact, we definitely take note.
The /r/Graffiti Reddit thread is one place that is full of great graffiti, some topical with recent events, and some tugging on our nostalgic heartstrings.
Here are a few that caught our eye, even the freight train carriage with the three-button NES controller! Check out the rest on Reddit.
image source: reddit – /r/Graffiti
Who would have thought it, paper craft models of some of the most iconic classic gaming consoles and computers!
The best part of these paper craft designs is that even peeps like us can follow the instructions without fear of breaking anything rare that we couldn’t replace.
No matter your classic gaming tastes, artists and designer, Rocky Bergen has you covered, from the Amiga 500, Sega Master System, TRS-80 Model III to the ZX Spectrum, Atari ST and even the glorious Sharp X68000 amongst many many others!
So what are you are you waiting for, get printing, cutting and crafting!
image source: Rocky Bergen
So how much storage space would it take to store every Nintendo video game (from the stable of their major consoles) that can be emulated?
Don’t worry about trying to work out the answer, as Reddit user, RHYTHM_GMZ, has already done all the hard work for us.
You’ll need roughly 7.53TB (yep, that’s TERABYTES!) of space to be able to emulate every darn Nintendo video game! With the Wii making up 6.56TB of the 7.53TB total, you may want to know the breakdown of the rest of the Nintendo game libraries, so here you go:
For those of you that prefer to visualise these figures, we have you covered – see below!
NOTE: Games libraries based on the uncompressed NTSC versions
[story source: RHYTHM_GMZ via Reddit]
We’re excited to announce the 2020 Reset C64 4KB game coding competition. This year’s competition theme is once again…. Craptastic!
“What the bloom’n heck does craptastic mean?”, I hear you ask. It certainly doesn’t mean crap, although it can! Craptastic can mean ludicrous, bonkers, outrageous, funny, wacky, far out, and silly. The theme simply implies that the compo is just for a bit of fun, not a serious coding competition. You are more than welcome to make an excellent game to submit for the compo. Your game may contain some humour or silliness to fit more with the theme, but it doesn’t have to!
2018 Craptastic Comp Winner: Conga 4098 by Paul Koller
In the previous competitions (2016 and 2018), some entries were truly excellent, others excellent but silly, others truly awful but funny! It’s just a chance for people to do something a little different if they wish and explore ideas/concepts that wouldn’t normally work well in a more serious compo.
Please remember that this competition is limited to 4KB. Yes, any entry submitted can be no more than 4KB when compressed. If your game is more than 1 file, then all the files put together must not exceed the 4KB limit.
We want craptastic game entries! Remember, the key word here is fun! We want both coders and players alike to have fun and enjoy this comp!
Submit your entries to RESET64 (via email) by 30th June, 2020 (23:59 GMT).
Take a look at our page for the 2018 Craptastic Comp Winners and download the games!
Even a craptastic comp needs some basic rules, so here they are:
We reserve the right to change, add or delete rules during the competition if deemed necessary!
3rd place in the 2018 Craptastic Comp: Snake-a-Space by Jamie & Molly Fuller.
The scoring rules are very simple. Depending on the number of entries, the judges will award points to each game over several criteria (as discussed below). If there are 6 entries, 6 points go to the best, then 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 to the worst.
If a panel member has entered a game themselves, then the number of points that they can award will be adjusted (in this example, to 5) and they will not score their own release.
The criteria that each game will be evaluated on are:
When the panel has scored each game accordingly, the totals for each criteria will be divided by the number of judges to produce a mean average. These averages are then added together for each game to give a final score.
PLEASE NOTE: CSDB will not be used for voting. Also, entries should not be uploaded to CSDB, or elsewhere until after the competition has closed. Feel free to post screenshots or info though.
A craptastic gaming comp requires craptastic prizes, right? We have some fantastic prizes lined up for this year’s comp thanks to some very generous sponsors.
A big thank-you to the following sponsors and supporters:
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Unkle K / Reset64
Official Twitter account for Reset64 Magazine – dedicated to the world’s favourite 8-bit computer!
Follow Reset64 Magazine on Twitter
When it comes to hacking or modding, there are certain creations that make a lot of sense. Shank Mods’ Nintendo Switch GameCube Joy-Cons are exactly the mod we would love to become a retail product for all of us to enjoy!
Shank Mods goes into detail of this creation, which wasn’t easy, by any stretch of the imagination. Us mere mortals would be incapable to follow the instructions for fear of bricking our Switch or worse, sacrificing a working GameCube controller which would no doubt end up breaking. Having said that, there are other peeps out there that are adept to following instructions and taking calculated risks, which pay off – and this one is a big pay off, as the Joy-Cons are based on one of the best controllers of all time!
As this mod was quite gruelling, Shank Mods has confirmed that these Nintendo Switch GameCube Joy-Cons are a one-off, making them super ultra rare. So if you would like a pair, you better get hacking!
source: Shank Mods
[story source: technabob]
By: D.C. Cutler, U.S.A.
Metroid’s Mother Brain is considered one of the most diabolical she-villains in video game history.
When I was a kid, I was obsessed with defeating Mother Brain every time I put my Metroid cartridge into my Nintendo Entertainment System. It took me a while to finally defeat her, and when I did, I wondered if Mother Brain had a backstory. How did she get to possess such vast power?
When I would play the original Metroid, I found Mother Brain fascinating. In later Metroid games, we got a little backstory on Mother Brain, but none of it seemed that imaginative. The original design of Mother Brain was the best. All of the designs in later games, especially in Super Metroid, when Mother Brain looked like a brain with a grotesque chicken body, were slightly extreme and almost silly. In the original Metroid, Mother Brain was captivating and menacing by just sitting in a glass jar, controlling the game like a puppet master. When I would defeat Mother Brain, my imagination would run wild. Was what we saw in the jar her original or real form?
image source: Samolo via Deviantart
Metroid was not the easiest game to beat. It took me several tries before I finally completed the game. I wasn’t an expert at the game like my brother. It took him just a day or two to defeat Mother Brain. Then he would usually move on to another game and beat that before me as well.
In the video game magazines of the time, like Nintendo Power, they never really went into much depth when it came to the iconic, she-villain. But the early games didn’t tell as much about Mother Brain either. It must’ve been a boring existence, just sitting there in a protective glass jar, ruling the planet, hoping that a bounty hunter wouldn’t come along and destroy you. However, she did have an army of henchmen protecting her. Villains in other major games at the time were primarily male and mostly on the beefy side.
Mother Brain was engrossing because she was so different from all of the other heavy villains in video games. Mother Brain is one of the reasons Metroid is a classic NES game.
image source: metroid.fandom.com
Still get surprised to the lengths some talented folks go to for merging their passions, like this Cranmer Guitars built Super Mario World guitar, made from 10,000 lollipop sticks!
We just want to know, how long did it take to lick and eat all those lollipops!
Oh yeah, we love the guitar 🙂
[story and image source: Geekologie]